Q&A: How do we know if our Minnesota elections are safe? – InForum

St. PAUL – Electoral manipulation and voter fraud – are common concerns ahead of the Nov. 5 general election. What is being done in Minnesota to prevent this and keep elections safe? Minnesota election officials explain.

The information is according to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office and Minnesota election judges who spoke at a public test of election tabulators in Blaine, Minnesota on Thursday, October 17.

A: Collecting ballots is legal in Minnesota. This means that someone can deliver your ballot for you. Absentee ballots have additional protections and go through an extra check to prevent any kind of forgery or cheating: checking that another registered Minnesota voter has signed your ballot as a witness, checking that the name and address match what was in the absence request and checking that the ID matches the absence request. Public databases documenting deaths in the state also help ensure that someone isn’t filling out the ticket for someone who has died or moved away.

A: You must bring an ID when you register. Once you’re registered, election officials have a photo of you and your information that they confirm at your polling station, but you have to go to the correct polling station, which you can find here.

So if someone who is registered comes in without ID, the judges will have a copy of their ID and a photo of them in their database. But if they were never registered voters, or if they have not voted in four years, they will not be able to vote without ID.

A: No, undocumented immigrants cannot vote in Minnesota. You must be a US citizen to vote. Although Minnesota’s new automatic voter registration says people who receive a Minnesota state-issued ID can automatically register, and the Minnesota Legislature also just passed a law allowing undocumented immigrants to get driver’s license, there is an exception for non-citizens.

If the DMV worker sees that a Minnesota resident cannot show U.S. citizenship while receiving a driver’s license, he or she will not be automatically registered to vote. Humans also review automatic records.

A: In counties that are hyper-rural and where there may not be a convenient polling place nearby, the state automatically mails ballots to affected individuals. In all other cases, people do not receive ballots automatically, unless they have chosen to do so on the Secretary of State’s website.

A: “It’s a question I get asked quite often,” said Secretary of State Steve Simon. “People will say, ‘Well, what about the people who have died?’ We regularly subscribe to and filter all the millions of records through not one but two death databases.It’s not a very fun and happy topic, of course, but we subscribe to both the death index of the Social Security as in the Minnesota Department of Health Death Index.”

As for voters who have moved out of state or who haven’t voted in Minnesota in four years, those people’s records are automatically deactivated, but Simon said nationally, states partner each other to check the records often as well.

A: “The poll books work in conjunction with the Anoka County data, so people who vote absentee, that information is quickly sent to Anoka County and then uploaded to those poll books in real time,” said Kathy Sorenson, Anoka’s chief election judge. county “So we’re making sure no one tries to go to the polls after they’ve submitted their absentee ballot.”

When voters register, judges can see that data and whether someone has already voted, Sorenson explained.

A: Any eligible voter in Minnesota can be a judge of election, although there are some exceptions: no family members can work together as judges of election at the same polling place, and a candidate for office cannot work at one electoral district where they are voting.

“They are your neighbors, your friends, your people you know in the community, and they deserve our respect and admiration for taking the time to do this important work fairly, accurately and legally,” said Simon about electoral workers.

Minnesota state law requires that all county election boards have both Republican and Democratic judges, and that any decision, such as certifying a signature, be made by two judges from each party.

Judges can also never perform a duty alone: ​​they must be accompanied by another person to enter any area where the ballots are secured.

A: If you are voting absentee, your ballot is mailed from your county clerk’s office directly to the address you provided on your absentee application. When you return it by mail, the ballot is returned to the county office, the address listed on the yellow envelope on your absentee ballot. There, county officials will review your ballot by checking signatures and other voter information. If your ballot is accepted, officials will eventually insert your ballot into a tabulating machine to record your vote.

If you are voting in person or dropping off your absentee ballot in person, once your ballot is completely filled out, you can insert it into the tabulating machine yourself. Voters can hear the sound of their ballot dropping into the tab as they insert it and can visually see if it has been counted.

Minnesota state law says that after the tabulator records the results, the results must be reported from each polling place to the county by some physical means, either the tabulator disk that records all the results or the receipt-looking tape. which prints from each machine with results. Minnesota also has a strict “no internet” law to prevent manipulation of results as they are recorded, meaning tabulators do not work with any kind of internet connection.

After the unofficial results are filed, the judges of election will open the tabulating machines and store the ballots securely in each county office building.

About a week after each election, when unofficial results are in, the 87 counties conduct post-election reviews, where they count ballots from randomly selected precincts by hand. A precinct where 2,000 or more votes were cast is allowed a 5-vote difference from what the tabulators recorded. After the counting, the State Board of Canvassing makes the results official.

All ballots used for these reviews are returned to the county clerk’s office, where they will be stored securely for two years. After the two-year period, the ballots are shredded. Any room where ballots are stored is locked and inspected at all times. Only county officials have keys to these rooms and no one can enter these rooms without another person present.

A: According to data from the Minnesota Judiciary, provided by the Office of the Secretary of State, in 2023, five people in Minnesota were convicted of “consciously voting for ineligible voters.” In 2022, five again, and in 2021, six.

A: Most voting crimes are punishable as a felony, which can result in a $10,000 fine or up to five years in prison.

A: 1. Although the polls close on Election Day at 8:00 p.m., you can still vote as long as you are in line 8. Many voters will leave the polling place or not vote if they think they won’t be there well before 8 o’clock

2. If you voted absentee and choose to return your ballot in person rather than by mail, don’t assume you have to return it to your local polling place. You should return your ballot to whatever address the ballot was sent from, which is often the county office. If you return it to your polling place, the election judges will do their best to deliver it to the county on time, but it is not guaranteed. With absentee ballots, you can track whether your vote has been counted.

3. You cannot go to any polling place in your county, you must go within your precinct, which can be found on the Minnesota Secretary of State website.